The present invention relates to a guide device for sliding doors for shelves, comprising at least one guide rail, wherein each guide rail has a guide region for guiding sliding doors and at least one fastening region connected to the guide region for fastening the guide device to shelves, wherein all the guide regions in their cooperation form a guide arrangement and all the fastening regions in their cooperation form a fastening arrangement, and an arrangement of at least two guide devices for sliding doors for shelves.
Guide devices for sliding doors for cupboards are generally known. Since cupboards are usually intended to provide a storage space which is closed with respect to the surroundings, which nevertheless is accessible from outside, these items of furniture are fitted with doors, in particular sliding doors, ex works. The guide rails used for the guidance of the sliding doors are usually let into supporting components of the cupboards or placed on such components.
The Unexamined Laid-Open Patent Application CH 700 980 A1 describes a guide rail for sliding doors which is inserted in a pre-fabricated groove in the ceiling of the cupboard. The guide rail has a groove which is open towards the bottom, which is suitable for receiving running gear on which the sliding doors are arranged. The guide rail is glued into the groove in the ceiling of the cupboard or non-detachably fastened therein in some other way. In order to be able to fasten this guide rail subsequently to any cupboard, appreciable structural measures were required, for example, milling a groove in the ceiling of the cupboard. A subsequent fastening of the guide rail to a shelf is therefore out of the question.
The Unexamined Laid-Open Patent Application EP 0 179 993 A2 discloses a cabinet with at least one sliding door, wherein the sliding door is mounted slidingly in a bottom rail and in a top rail. These rails are configured as profiles having at least one groove, wherein the profiles are absolutely essential components of the cabinet. Retrofitting of the rails is impossible. The groove of the top rail is only accessible for the sliding rail from below, that of the bottom rail is only accessible from the top. Consequently, any exchangeability of the rails in their function as top rail or bottom rail is not achieved.
The Utility Model DE 203 03 045 U1 describes a structural unit for guiding sliding doors, which is fitted with an upper and a lower positionally fixed guide rail. The upper guide rail has two grooves which are arranged parallel to one another and open towards the bottom, in which the upper ends of the sliding doors are directly slidingly mounted. The lower guide rail has two elongate elevations arranged parallel to one another, on which the lower ends of the sliding doors stand indirectly displaceably, i.e. through interposed rollers. As a result of the design-dependent difference of the guide rails, it is not possible to use the upper guide rails as lower guide rail and vice versa so that their universal use is out of the question.
The Unexamined Laid-Open Patent Application DE 102 20 286 A1 discloses a running rail arrangement for sliding doors, where a fastening region for fastening the running rail arrangement to the front side of a cupboard is disposed laterally adjacent to a guide region configured as grooves for guiding the sliding doors, so that the running rail arrangement is suitable in principle for subsequent fastening to a cupboard. The guide region comprises an upper running rail, which has only grooves open towards the bottom and a lower running rail which only has grooves open towards the top. A universal use of the running rails is therefore out of the question.